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Digital Planet: Agritech Special Edition

Factual: Science & Nature

Smart Farming graphic

03/01/2023 GMT

Agritech Special Edition

BBC World Service - Digital Planet, Agritech Special Edition

What is the role for technology in agriculture? Gareth talks to experts in the field.

Gareth talks to leading figures in the agriculture technology industry – the makers of a smart tractor, targeted pest control and a robot fruit picker.

This week and to start the New Year we take a look at the use of technology in agriculture around the world. Agriculture as an industry is keen to clean up its act on emissions, so what could be better than an electric tractor. But will it be able to manage all that farming throws at it? Gareth puts the questions to Praveen Penmetsa who is co-founder and CEO of Monarch Tractors which recently launched a ‘Smart Tractor’.

It’s no use having a tractor smart or not, if your crop has been devastated by insects. Pests destroy up to 40 percent of global crops and cost 220 billion US dollars of losses worldwide annually, according to The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the FAO.  Matej Stefancic the Chief Executive Officer of Trapview a Slovenian company, has developed intelligent insect traps.  He explains to Gareth how they monitor bugs in the field, in an effort to cut the need for indiscriminate use of insecticides.

And once you’ve grown your crop you need to harvest it, and in the case of soft fruit it needs careful picking and packing for the market. With a shortage of skilled labour around the world a robot picker capable of matching a human would be ideal. Well, one developed in Britain is currently doing just that on a farm in Portugal, and fruit picked by it could be on sale in supermarkets very soon. The academic founder and Chief Science Officer of Fieldwork Robotics Martin Stoelen is the brains behind this robot and he explains to Gareth the challenges involved in developing it.

The programme is presented by Gareth Mitchell with expert commentary from Bill Thompson. 

Studio Manager: Steve Greenwood
Producers: Ania Lichtarowicz and Alun Beach

(Image: Smart Farming graphic
Credit: Jackie Niam/Getty Images)

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